Hey, you. The one ragging on women for wearing yoga pants when they can’t possibly be going to the gym?

Can you just drop it already?

I mean, do you take to social media to disparage surgeons for wearing scrubs? Or soldiers for wearing camo?

Of course not, because the clothes that they wear to do those jobs support and complement the work they are doing.

That mom you see wearing gym attire every day? Well, that clothing supports her lifestyle, too, both from a functionality and a cost standpoint.

Functionality: Wearing clothes that are designed to facilitate movement allows me to squat down to wipe snotty noses. It allows me to run after a toddler playing chase and to climb up the play structure to rescue a crying child who went too high. I can sit down on a field and not worry that my butt-cleavage will show. And, finally, the dry weave technology means that neither a drippy sippy cup nor a deluge will keep me wet for very long. Because with a toddler in your arms and a child holding each elbow, there’s just no room for an umbrella as you walk across a parking lot.

“But you’re not working out, so why wear workout clothes?”

Really? Who says I’m not “working out?” My whole life is a workout these days.

Cost: Sure, higher end “yoga pants” can run you into the triple digits. But they wash beautifully, never need dry cleaning, and can be worn multiple times before they really, truly need a launder. (I know this. I have pushed the limits.)

And, what would you have us wear? Well-fitting, nice blue jeans now run in the upper triple digits. Blue jeans are today what a nice pair of black pants was yesterday – something to don when you want to look pulled together.

I won’t get within ten feet of my toddler in my nicest pair of blue jeans. Unless I am good with an article of clothing becoming ketchup-stained, I keep my distance in it.

So what’s with the yoga pants hate? No one maligns other professions for wearing attire that supports the work that they are doing.

Functionality and cost benefits aside, I have a bigger beef with the yoga pants haters, and it’s this:

What I wear is none of your business.

This whole “why are you wearing yoga pants when you’re not going to the gym” is yet another example of women’s bodies being put forth as objects for analysis, criticism and ultimately ridicule.

And I am over it.

It’s possible that the deaths in the Ukrainian protests over the past few weeks number in the triple digits. In Venezuela, anti-government protests have cost some thirteen people their lives. Arizona just passed legislation that allows discrimination against gays just for being gay, and a polio-like virus has surfaced in California children.

This is just a smattering, but my point is that we have REAL issues to discuss.

In that vein, if you want to come up to me and tell me that my yoga pants were made in Bangladesh by children, then have at it. That is a conversation I would love to have both because I am woefully under-educated in the ethics of my clothing and also because it matters.

But the fact that I am not going to the gym today yet have the audacity to wear “gym attire?”

Please.

If it makes you feel any better, I can stop calling them yoga pants and just refer to them as my “really-comfy-stretchy-pants-that-are-easy-to-clean-and-allow-me-to-be-an-active-and-engaged-mom-without-worrying-about-ruining-a-nice-outfit” pants.

I would live in my Yoga and workout clothes every single day, Oh dear I do except when I am meeting with clients. I love the soft stretchy fit they offer. Comfort is the name of the game for me.thanks for sharing.

Love this! I always justify buying the expensive workout clothes bc I end up staying in them all day! They truly are my “mom uniform.” And if I am able to squeeze in a workout or a walk at some point in the day I certainly don’t have time to change my clothes before hand!

I wish all you yoga pant lovers would give the CAbi tech gear a try! My daughter and daughter in law swear they are better than their lulu’s. I wear CAbi yoga pants at least 3 times a week and LOVE them! And I am a fashion consultant, ladies, so you can totally look pulled together is some yoga pants! Kristine has my info if you are interested!